Victor Cruz hopes Wes Welker, the prototype slot receiver, did not set a market yesterday when he left the Patriots and signed a two-year, $12 million contract to play catch with Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

Cruz is looking for a whole lot more than $6 million per year and, as a restricted free agent, is hoping he gets it from the Giants or someone else.

He won’t get it from the Patriots. After failing to ante up to keep Welker, yesterday they signed Danny Amendola, the former Rams possession receiver, to a five-year, $31 million contract ($10 million guaranteed).

Cruz certainly will take note of this deal, as he is far more accomplished than Amendola.

While Cruz waits, at least he already has cashed in — in a sense. He got some good financial news yesterday, learning he will receive $221,303 in performance-based pay. The NFL management council sent out the checks, which are based on playing time vs. a players’ compensation. The system is set up to reward players

working on low salaries who participate in a high number of plays in a season. The league pool for the performance-based pay is $3.46 million per team.

Based on those calculations, Cruz took in quite a haul, as his check is slightly more than 40 percent of his 2012 salary of $540,000. Every player who appears in a game gets a check, obviously

some more than others. For example, Brandon Jacobs played in just two games for the 49ers but received $1,500. Joe Webb of the Vikings played three snaps all season and gets $697.

Austin Howard cashed in more lucratively than Cruz. Howard started all 16 games at right tackle for the Jets and as a result becomes richer by $259,645.